TW 3

No! November!

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No sun--no moon!

No morn--no noon!
No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day--
No sky--no earthly view--
No distance looking blue--
No road--no street--no "t'other side this way"--
No end to any Row--
No indications where the Crescents go--
No top to any steeple--
No recognitions of familiar people--
No courtesies for showing 'em--
No knowing 'em!
No traveling at all--no locomotion--
No inkling of the way--no notion--
"No go" by land or ocean--
No mail--no post--
No news from any foreign coast--
No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility--
No company--no nobility--
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member--
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds--
November!


It's nice to be able to post a picture that contradicts Thomas Hood's poem and my usual feelings about this time of year which have taken on a much more optimistic outlook since learning to live with cancer.

A Blog post title which may not be familiar to the younger readers and in my case I've use a little bit of poetic licence to say "That Was The Week(end) That Was!" and also a bit more licentiousness to show you first how it finished this evening when after returning home at around fourish, the clocks having gone backwards and it being very dark by five, the late Halloween visitors arrived at our door in their droves. What a pleasant surprise I got when our new neighbours put in an appearance: It was definitely a case of..................................
'Trick orTREAT'!!!

Fortunately we restocked our fruit for juicing supplies from a lovely farm shop in Hamble before heading home this afternoon, so in true Coronation Street tradition, according to Eileen Grimshaw, we 'oldies' gave the kiddies the healthy option of fruit rather than sweeties. I couldn't possibly say in polite company what I would have liked to give the witch in the striped hosiery but rest assured sweeties wouldn't have been the only treat on offer! Far too much excitement to end three days of fun and games, so I am retiring to bed early and will update the rest of the weekend's news later.
(these photos are posted without captions to allow 'click' to enlarge)

Nothing to do with Halloween, and no mask or make-up involved, this is my portrait after a cycle of chemo; well maybe a slight exaggeration but certainly feels this way, especially after 2nd bout, so a bit apprehensive about this Wednesday's 3rd cycle :

 
The weekend away was almost perfect. On Friday afternoon, a bit later than planned, Geraldine, Chaka and I made our way down the M3 to The Southampton Hilton hotel. Having arranged for Gary to stay at our house and dog sit, I phoned the hotel at the last minute and discovered they were 'small dog friendly' so Chaka being small compared to a Great Dane, I decided he could come with us. He was an instant hit with the staff, primarily because of his proud looks, gentle nature and exceptionally good behaviour when staying in such establishments. It's a pity the same can't be said for me! Our room was equipped with new Yap Roventa Cage Mat, a drinking bowl and a large Bonio chew. (Unfortunately, after such a good first impression, the Hilton standards went rapidly down hill from there on in, but I am not going to dwell as it didn't spoil our break)

One size fits all!

It had been our intention to have dinner at So'ton Quay in a restaurant recommended by Dr Sam, Jennie's very good friend from the days when she did her master's degree and clinical research work in the city, however neither I nor the Hotel could contact the La Regata to book a table so after a slightly harrowing journey in wet weather rush hour we decided to eat in the Hilton restaurant: An unmitigated disaster which resulted in the whole bill being cancelled at the end of our stay. I am waiting for feed back from the General Manager in response to written complaint to the Duty Manager about this and the poor standard of our room in general. There were some very good aspects about our stay: The easy access to the gardens for Chaka and the Leisure Centre Pool for me to use morning and evening, the 'all you can eat' breakfast and the friendly, helpful staff fighting a losing battle against poor senior management practices .

Fine figure of a mobile toxic waste recycler

The weather was kind to us on Saturday and we headed for Exbury Gardens and the amazing splashes of colour of the autumn leaves and a fun packed ride on the Ghost Train (I will need a whole photo album for this visit alone!)

Failed to see why they looked so concerned??.....I was not wearing a scary costume, mask or make-up!